OLLO – IRCC Services In Official Languages – February 6, 2023
Key Messages
IRCC ensures at all times that the public can communicate with its organization and receive its services in English or French, in accordance with the official language of their choice, and that communications and services respect the principle of substantive equality.
IRCC takes all official language complaints seriously and has procedures in place to investigate and resolve these complaints in a timely manner.
Supplementary Messages
The Client Support Centre
Clients have the option to choose services in English or French, and IRCC ensures that it has adequate numbers of bilingual agents at its Client Support Centre (CSC) to respond to the demand for support in both official languages.
Approximately 80% of callers ask to speak to a CSC agent in English and 20% of callers ask to speak to a CSC agent in French.
Approximatively 65% of CSC agent positions are designated bilingual.
As of December 31, 2022, there are currently nine open complaints related to Part IV of the Official Languages Act (Communications and Services).
Digital Journey Labs (For Minimum Viable Products)
The Department is modernizing its immigration service delivery and this includes building new digital and user-centric tools. Throughout the design, testing and development of these new digital tools, the Department will continue to ensure consistency and access across both official languages.
Background
Client Support Centre
The Client Support Centre (CSC) at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) provides personalized client support for clients seeking immigration information, application status, technical support and other services through three primary channels: telephone (in-Canada only), email (via a webform), and the Ministerial Centre for Members of Parliament and Senators.
From April 1 to December 31, 2022, the Client Support Centre received:
8.3M telephone enquiries;
1.9M email enquiries; and,
328,000 enquiries at the Ministerial Centre for Members of Parliament and Senators.
Live agent telephone support is offered, in both official languages, to clients located in Canada, coast to coast, during business hours, and touchtone self-service for general information and simple application status is available through the Interactive Voice Response system 24/7. In-Canada and overseas clients can contact the CSC via an online Webform.
From April 1 to December 31, 2022, the average speed of answer for the CSC for telephone support was 21 minutes (service standard is 30 minutes for average speed of response) and 23.7 days for email processing (service standard is three business days for responding to emails).
IRCC continues to ensure that it has bilingual agents at IRCC’s CSC, in adequate numbers, to respond to the demand for support in both official languages from across Canada.
All employees at the supervisory and management level at the CSC are bilingual to ensure that all subordinate employees can communicate in the official language of their choice.
Official Languages Complaints
All complaints put forward to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages (OCOL) are recorded. Upon analysis by OCOL, complaints are either determined to be receivable and subject to further investigation or un-receivable and are therefore not forwarded to departments.
IRCC received 19 complaints from OCOL during fiscal year 2021-2022. Of those, 13 (of the 19) were related to the communications and services to the public (or Part IV of the Official Languages Act); one of the 13 related to wait times for services in French at the CSC. IRCC has received 13 complaints from OCOL for 2022-2023; 10 (out of the 13) are related to Part IV.
